Payroll, attendance and statutory deductions — one ERPNext system

A client came to us with a familiar problem. They’re an engineering, supply and projects company based in Tegeta, Dar es Salaam, taking on projects in other regions from time to time — which meant their workforce wasn’t fixed either. Permanent staff were on salary, but each project could bring in temporary workers paid by attendance, with extra duty on top. Every month, someone had to work out who was owed what across both groups, apply the right statutory deductions to each person, and then get all of that into the accounts. It worked, but it took days, and it was easy to get wrong.

We didn’t build a separate application for this. ERPNext already has the pieces — attendance, payroll, salary structures, accounting — the work was in configuring them properly and adding what wasn’t there yet.

We set up salary structures that treat permanent and temporary staff differently without splitting them into two systems. Attendance records feed directly into what temporary staff are paid, extra duty is calculated on top automatically, and permanent salaries run through the same payroll cycle without needing a separate process. On top of that, we configured the statutory side properly for Tanzania — PAYE, SDL, NSSF, WCF and HESLB are all calculated per employee, based on their category, as part of the normal payroll run, not worked out separately and bolted on.

Because it’s all inside ERPNext, payroll doesn’t need a manual step to reach accounting either. Salary components are mapped to the right accounts, so once payroll runs, the entries are already sitting in the general ledger.

The result is one system that handles a mixed, project-driven workforce, gets the statutory deductions right without anyone maintaining a separate spreadsheet for it, and keeps accounting in sync automatically. Nothing exotic — just ERPNext, set up the way it should have been from the start.

If your payroll involves a mix of permanent and temporary staff across projects, and statutory compliance has been a manual exercise every month, this is exactly the kind of setup we do. Get in touch.

FAQ

Can ERPNext handle Tanzania’s statutory deductions — PAYE, SDL, NSSF, WCF, HESLB? It can, once it’s configured for them. These aren’t built in by default, so the calculation rules need to be set up correctly first — after that, ERPNext applies them automatically for every employee, every pay run.

Can one payroll run cover both permanent and temporary staff? Yes, as long as the salary structures are set up to treat them differently. There’s no need for two separate systems — permanent and temporary employees can run through the same payroll cycle, each with their own pay rules applied correctly.

Does attendance feed into payroll automatically? It can be configured to. Once attendance and extra duty are linked to the pay calculation, there’s no manual step between marking attendance and generating payslips.

Does payroll post to accounting automatically? Yes — when salary components are mapped to the right accounts, journal entries land in the general ledger as part of the payroll run itself, no re-entry required.